Daytona qualifying. How does it work?

[paulzinho]

So How does it work?

[Ax Slinger]

Well, I'm not 100% sure, but I think it goes like this... Saturday they had a round of qualifying to determine who gets the polls. The two fastest cars, Jimmie Johnson (#48) and Kevin Harvick (#29), are locked into the 1st and 2nd starting positions. Then on Thursday there are the Gatorade twin 125's, which set positions 3 - 30. The rest of the positions are either past Cup Champs or provisionals I think. There may be a second round of qualifying prior to the 125's, but I'm not sure. I have usually tuned in to NASCAR from the Daytona 500 on in the past.

[Roselady3]

I borrowed this from our bud- Racin' Rob. It's a pretty good explaination of the entire COMPLICATED process of the qualifying process for the Daytona 500

Daytona 500 Qualifying Procedure

First round qualifying works the same way as in all other restrictor plate races. Each driver get two laps around the track, and they are scored with the fastest of the two. After the first round is completed, the drivers with the top 2 lap times are locked into the starting grid. The pole sitter is the fastest and the outside pole sitter is the 2nd fastest. This differs from other races where the top 36 are locked into the grid.

The first round qualifying results also determine the lineup for the twin 125 qualifying races. All of the cars that place in odd numbers on the board, from first round qualifying, will race in the first 125 mile qualifier. That is, 1, 3, 5, 7...59th. All of the cars that place in even numbers on the board, from first round qualifying, will race in the second 125 mile qualifier. That is, 2, 4, 6, 8...60th.

Now, once the twin 125's have been run, we can determine the top 30 starting positions. The top 14 finishers from race 1 will line up on the inside row behind the pole sitter. Starting positions 3, 5, 7...29th. If the pole sitter is one of the top 14 finishers, then the 15th place car will be added, as the pole sitter is starting first no matter where he finished in the race as his place was locked in in first round qualifying. The top 14 finishers from race 2 will line up on the outside row behind the outside pole sitter. Starting positions 4, 6, 8...30th. If the outside pole sitter is one of the top 14 finishers, then the 15th place car will be added, as the outside pole sitter is starting second no matter where he finished in the race as his place was locked in in first round qualifying.

The Monday prior to the twin 125's, there is round 2 of qualifying (restrictor plate race are the only races with 2 rounds of qualifying). These are for cars that wish to try to get a faster speed than they got in first round qualifying. This time may help them get into the field in positions 31-36.

Starting positions 31-36 are picked from the fastest times from the first 2 rounds of qualifying prior to the twin 125's. The fastest 6 cars are picked from these qualifying times, from cars that have not made the race via the twin 125's. Like Ken Schrader in the 1998 race who had the 3rd fastest qualifying time in first round, but was in that terrible accident in his 125 mile qualifying race, gets to start from the 31st starting position. Then there remains 7 positions that are filled via provisionals based on the owners points from the previous season. The 43rd starting spot can be claimed by a past Winston Cup champion that has not already made the race.